Railway car floor door



K. M. HAMlLTON 1,826,348

RAILWAY CAR FLOOR DOOR Filed Dec 2, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 6, 1931.

.1 id. 111. I: I

INVENTOR BY Karl M- Hamilton ATTORNEY 9% Oct. 6, 1931. K. M. HAMILTON 1,826,343

RAILWAY CAR FLOOR DOOR Filed Dec. 2. 1929' 2 Sheets-Sheen 2 Z6 Y- I n F 'T I it I I 1111" zs i INVENTOR r M. Harm lton ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 6, 1931 UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE,

KARL M. HAMILTON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE BETTENDORF COMPANY,

OF IBETTEN-DOBE, IOW A,v A CORIBOR-ATIO N' OF IOWA RAILWAYGAR rnoon noon Application filed December 2,1929. Serial No. 410,980. i V

This invention relates to railway car floor doors of the type which 'are hinged to swing downwardly to permit gravity discharge of loose material from the interior of the car. It is the object of the present invention to provide doorofsuperior strength and duraility which can bemanufactured at a relatively low; cost. s M A further object: of the invention is topicvide a" door-having a one-piece metal frame which has: integral hinge'memhers: and latchengaging' arms projecting from opposite edges thereof. M Alfurther ob'jectoftheinvention is to pro Idvide a doorhavingai on'e-piecememl frame which has integral hinge members and latchengagingi arms which areicontinuatirons of the longitudinal side members of the. frame A further object is to provide a one-piece a metal. dioor'frame'whi'ch has integral hinge: arms'proiecting beyond the inner edge oi the door, which are continuations of the longi tudinal' side members of the frame.

A further-"object is toprovide ado'or in which thefloor boards forming the face of the. door may extend longitudinally of thedoorin' the direction of the flow o f material over the face of the door during the discharge of ma' terialfrom the car;

515 With the foregoing and-- other objectsin view, the invention may besaid to compr se a dooras i-l l ustratedin the accompanyin drawings hereinafterdescribed partied la-riy set forth in theappended claims,-tegether with such variations and] modifications thereof "as will be apparent toone skilled in the art'to which the invention appertains.

Reference should behad to the accompany ing drawings torrning a part of this specification in which: Y V

Figure l is a plan View ofa 'portion'of a car floor with a portionof the carfi'ooring and a portion of the flooring forming the face of the door omitted to show the frame structure; p

Fig, 2 is asection taken on; the. line indicated at 2'2, in Fig l;. w y p Rig. 3: is atragmentary side elevation of the; lower portionoi? the: car with a portion of the car wall and side sill omitted'td show a'portion o'f'the outer edge of the door;

F igvetis a side elevation of adoor provided with a metal floor'plate; 7

Fig. 5 is end elevation of the door shown in FigA. I

The accompanying drawings: show the door-ofrthe present invention mounted toclose an: openingin thefioorof a railway car, a portion only of the car structure being shown. The drawings show a portion of the floor 1 anda portion of the side wall 20f a railway car, the car bodybeing supported in the usual manner upon an under-frame composed of a longitudinalcenter sill 3, longitudinal side sills and cross beams 5 extending from the center sill to the side: sills, one side only of thecar-structure being shown in the drawings. As shown in F ig, 1 of the drawings,the car floor is provided with a door opening '6 located between thecentersill 3 and the side sill 4; it being understood. that the door opening. (ima; bef'one of aseries ofdoor openings which" are arranged along opposite sides of the center sill I I The door: of the present invention is pro'- vided with aonepiece metal frame, pref erahly in the form? of asteel casting, andthisframe has side members 7 which may be of any suitable: cross sectional shape and which extendacross' the door from the inner to the outer edge thereof which preferably converge toward the outer edge of the door.- The side members 7 asherein. shown are provided with horizontally disposed top flanges 8 which extendinwardly. Adjacent the inner ends of the" side members 7, the frame isiprovided with an inner member 9 otany suitable crossseetionalshape extending the full length of the innerfedgei of the door. The member 9 as herein shown has an inwardly projecting flange l0- lying-in the plane of'the flanges 8- o-fi the side members and forming a continua-- tionof thefl-anges 8, the inner member 9 havingendportionsl1 projecting outwardly of the sidemember 'Z. Adjacent the outer ends ofthe. side members? the frame is provided with? an outer member 12 of any suitable cross-sectional: shape extending 5 the 1 full length of, theouter' edgeof the door, the

sli

member 12, as herein shown, having an inwardly projecting flange 13 in the plane of the flanges 8 of the side members and continuous with the flanges 8. The outer frame member 12 has end portions 1% projecting outwardly from the side members 7, the flange 13 being extended beyond the side members to the outer ends of the outer frame member. The frame is preferably provided with an intermediate cross member 15 of any suitable cross-sectional shape which, as shown herein, is T-shaped in cross section having flanges 16 at the top thereof continuous with the flanges 8 of the side members and lying in the plane of the flanges 8, 10 and 13.

At the inner edge of the door integral inwardly projecting hinge arms 17 are provided, which are preferably extensions of the side members 7. llhe hinge arms 1'? are received between hinge butts 18 attached to the center sill 3 and are apertured to receive hinge pintles 19. At the outer edge thereof the frame is provided with projecting fa:- tcner engaging arms 20 which are formed integral with the frame and are preferably continuations of the members 7. In doors designed for cars having side s lls below the floor level, the arms 20 may be offset downwardly with respect to the body of the frame, having inner portions 21 extending downwardly and outer end portions 22 extending outwardly at right angles to the portions 21, the denth of the downwardly extending portions 20 being such that the outwardly extending portions 22 lie directly beneath the side sill 4 when the door is in closed position. The projecting portion 22 of each arm is preferablv box-shaped. in cross section and of sufficient length to project somewhat beyond the outer face of the side sill 4:, the outer end portions of the arm being angular in cross section and having inwardly projecting top flanges 23 adapted to be en ged by suitable hooks or latches 24 which. may be pivotally mounted on the side sill. The hooks or latches 2 are preferably formed with inclined lower end faces with which the flanges 28 engage as the door is raised to closed position. to permit the flanges 23 to pass the hooks, which automatically swing to latching position to retain the door in cl osed position. The flanges 8. 10, 13 and 16 of the frame. members provide a. fiat upper face to which a suitable flooring may be attached. The flanges 10 and 13 of the inner and outer bars are provided with bolt holes to receive bolts 26 for attaching the ends of floor boards 2? to the cross members. It should noted that the floor boards 27 extend from the inner to the outer edges of the door. that material sliding over a door opened for discharging material slides lengthwise of the boardsin the direction of the grain of the lioor boards and in the direction of the joints between the adjacent boards, that there is av minimum wear upon the floor boards due to the abrasive action of the sliding material.

The door may be faced with metal plates instead of floor boards and Figs. i and 5 of the drawings show door with. a metal floor portion, the frame as illustrated. in Figs. 4 and 5 being substantially identical with that illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and In doors faced with metal. plates the hinge arms and the latch engaging arms may be offset downwardly to av greater extent with respect to the top face of the frame to bring the top surface of the door flush with the surface of the car floor. In this modification, the top face or floor portion of the door is formed by a metal plate 28 which may be welded or rivet-ed to the iimges of the frame members, the plate 28 ng down-turned side flanges 29 which t over the ends of the cross-members 9 and 2, which serve to stiffen the edges of the late.

It will be apparent that the present invenion provides a very rigid door structure posstrength and durability, and,

b of the fact that the hinge arms and la enga ng arms are both. formed as integral i .rts of the frame casting, a cons1der able ving is effected in the cost of manufactu e and installation of the door.

it will also be apparent that where wood flooring employed for the face of the door the flooring is applied to the door in such manner that it is subjected to a minimum amount of wear due to the action of loose material sliding over the face of the door as it is being discharged from the car.

Furthermore it is to be understood that "he particular forms of apparatus shown and described, and tne particular procedure set forth, are aresented for purposes of explanation and illustration and that various modiu .ation s of said apparatus and procedure can b. made without departing from my invention defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In combination with a railway car having a center sill, a side sill and a floor having a door opening between the center and side sill, a door for closing said opening comprising a cast metal frame having inner and outer members and connecting members adjacent the ends thereof and integral therewith, said frame having integral hinge'men'ibers projecting from one edge. integral fastener engaging and door supporting arms projecting from its opposite edge, and a floor portion of a size to fit in said opening attached to said frame.

2. In combination with a railway car having a door opening in the floor thereof, a door for closing said opening comprising a cast metal frame having members extending alon the inner and outer edges of the door and outwardly converging members connecting a the inner and outer frame members and tensions of said outwardly converging connecting members.

3. In combination with a railway car having a center sill, a side sill and a floor having a door opening between thecenter and side sill, a door for closing said opening comprising a cast steel frame having members extending along the inner and outer edges of the door, and spaced connecting members integral with the inner and outer members,

said inner frame member having hinge mem- I bers integral therewith and said outer frame member having integral outwardly projecting arms forming extensions of the connect ing members, said arms being offset downwardly to project beneath the side sill, and a 7 floor portion of a size to fit in said opening attached to said frame.

4. A door for railway car floors comprising a cast metal frame having inner and outer members extending along the inner and outer edges of the door, integral connecting members converging toward the outer edge of the frame, said connecting members being connected to the inner member adjacent the ends thereof and to the outer member inwardly of its ends, outwardly projecting fastener arms integral With the frame and form ing continuations of the connecting members, and floor boards resting on the upper faces of the frame members and attached at their ends to said inner and outer frame members.

5. A door for railway car floors comprising a one-piece frame composed of inner and outer frame members, spaced integral connecting members extending from the inner to the outer members and a floor portion secured to the top face of the frame, said spaced connecting members extending past said inner and outer frame members to provide integral hinge arms at the inner edge of the door and integral fastener. arms proj ecting from the outer edge of the door. a

6. A door for railway car floors comprising a one-piece frame composed of inner and 1 outer frame members, spaced integral 0011-,

necting members extending from the inner to the outer members and a floor portion secured to the top face of the frame, integral hinge arms at the inner edge of the door and integral fastener engaging and door supporting arms projecting from the outer edge of the door.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

KARL M. HAMILTON. 

